[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 136 (Monday, July 16, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32916-32918]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-15091]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-397; NRC-2018-0146]
Energy Northwest; Columbia Generating Station
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact;
issuance.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering
issuance of an amendment to Renewed Facility Operating License No. NPF-
21, issued on May 22, 2012, and held by Energy Northwest (the licensee)
for the operation of Columbia Generating Station (Columbia), located in
Benton County, Washington. The proposed amendment would revise the
Environmental Protection Plan (Non-Radiological) (EPP), contained in
Appendix B to the Columbia renewed facility operating license. The NRC
is issuing a final environmental assessment (EA) and finding of no
significant impact (FONSI) associated with the proposed license
amendment.
DATES: The EA and FONSI referenced in this document is available on
July 16, 2018.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2018-0146 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document
using any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2018-0146. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Jennifer Borges; telephone: 301-287-
9127; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of
this document.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and
then select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS,
please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at
1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by email to [email protected]. The
ADAMS accession number for each document referenced in this notice (if
that document is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a
document is referenced.
NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Klos, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001; telephone: 301-415-5136; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The NRC is considering issuance of an amendment to Renewed Facility
Operating License No. NPF-21 issued to
[[Page 32917]]
Energy Northwest for operation of Columbia, located in Benton County,
Washington. The licensee submitted its license amendment request by
letter dated December 18, 2017 (ADAMS Accession No. ML17352B255). If
approved, the license amendment would add Section 4.2.2, ``Aquatic
Issues,'' to the Columbia EPP to require Energy Northwest to adhere to
the specific requirements within the Incidental Take Statement (ITS) in
the currently applicable biological opinion. The NRC prepared an EA to
document its findings related to the proposed license amendment request
in accordance with Section 51.21 of title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR). Based on the results of the EA documented herein,
the NRC did not identify any significant environmental impacts
associated with the proposed amendment and is, therefore, issuing a
FONSI in accordance with 10 CFR 51.32.
II. Environmental Assessment
Plant Site and Environs
Columbia is a single unit plant with a boiling water reactor and a
closed-cycle cooling system that withdraws water from and discharges
water to the Columbia River. The facility occupies approximately 1,089
acres (441 hectares) of land leased from the U.S. Department of Energy
within the Hanford Reservation. The leased land is located in Benton
County, Washington, 12 miles (19 kilometers) northwest of Richland and
approximately 160 miles (257 kilometers) southeast of Seattle. The
Columbia River borders the site to the east and flat rolling hills
surround the site.
The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, the NRC's predecessor agency,
and the NRC have previously conducted environmental reviews of Columbia
operations in several documents, which contain more detailed
descriptions of the plant site and environs. Those documents include
the Final Environmental Statement related to construction of the
facility in December 1972 (ADAMS Accession No. ML101870543); the Final
Environmental Statement related to initial operation of the facility in
December 1981 (ADAMS Accession No. ML100570374); and NUREG-1437,
``Generic Environmental Impact Statement [GEIS] for License Renewal of
Nuclear Plants, Supplement 47, Regarding Columbia Generating Station--
Final Report,'' dated April 2012 and its associated GEIS documents
(ADAMS Package Accession No. ML12097A267).
Description of the Proposed Action
The proposed action would add language in Section 4.2,
``Environmental Monitoring,'' of the Columbia EPP to require Energy
Northwest to adhere to the specific requirements within the ITS in the
currently applicable biological opinion. The proposed action would be
in accordance with the licensee's application dated December 18, 2017.
By amending Section 4.2 of the EPP to state that Energy Northwest
must adhere to the ITS in the currently applicable biological opinion,
the proposed action would require Energy Northwest's compliance with
the National Marine Fisheries Service's (NMFS) biological opinion,
dated March 10, 2017 (ADAMS Accession No. ML17072A036). This biological
opinion applies to Upper Columbia River spring run Chinook salmon
(Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and Upper Columbia River steelhead
(Oncorhynchus mykiss), and concludes that the continued operation of
Columbia is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of these
species or destroy or adversely modify the designated critical habitat
of these species. The ITS included in the biological opinion exempts
the incidental take of these species from the prohibitions of Section 9
of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA), provided that
the specified Reasonable and Prudent Measures (RPMs) are implemented.
The RPMs are:
1. Minimize the potential for incidental take of ESA-listed species
as a result of elevated concentrations of chemical constituents in the
mainstem Columbia River.
2. Minimize the potential for incidental take of ESA-listed species
as a result of entrainment and impingement associated with the cooling
water intake structure for Columbia.
3. Minimize the potential for incidental take \1\ of ESA-listed
species as a result of biological monitoring.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The ESA prohibits the take of any federally listed species
without a special exemption and states that the term ``take'' means
to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or
collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Ensure completion of a monitoring and reporting program to
confirm that the terms and conditions in this ITS were effective in
avoiding and minimizing incidental take from permitted activities and
ensuring incidental take is not exceeded.
In order to implement the RPMs, the ITS prescribes a number of
Terms and Conditions (T&Cs). The T&Cs require Energy Northwest to
conduct effluent monitoring (RPM1), conduct impingment and entrainment
studies (RPM 2), implement various best practices while conducting
biological monitoring studies to minimize impacts to listed species
(RPM 3), and submit a report to NMFS regarding all biological
monitoring activites (RPM 4). Specificially, to minimize chemical
exposures to ESA-listed species as described in RPM 1, Energy Northwest
must conduct physical and chemical monitoring of the Columbia effluent,
as specified in its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES) Permit No. WA002515-1, to ensure that effluent water quality
controls are functioning as intended. To minimize potential impingment
and entrainment as described in RPM 2, Energy Northwest must prepare
and conduct an impingment study and an entrainment study for NMFS's
review and comment, as described in its NPDES permit.
To minimize the potential for a take during biological monitoring
as described in RPM 3, the ITS prescribes several best practices and
reporting requirements for Energy Northwest to implement, including:
Fish handling practices.
Requirements to stop sampling when water temperatures
reach specified limits, or if any ESA-listed adult salmon or steelhead
or steelhead redds are observed at the site.
Reporting requirments if Energy Northwest unintentionally
captures any ESA-listed adult salmon or steelhead while angling for
resident fish, if a take is likely, or if any authorized level of take
is exceeded than the levels specied in the ITS.
To ensure completion of a monitoring and reporting program and to
ensure that incidental take is not exceeded as described in RPM 4,
Energy Northwest must submit to NMFS, with a copy to NRC, an annual
post-season report describing the biological monitoring activities that
occurred and a summary of each take including the ESA-listed species
affected, the type of take, the location where the take occurred, and
the date of occurrence. The annual report must also summarize any
operational changes to Columbia that affect the effluent discharge and
have the potential to affect ESA-listed resources.
Notably, because the proposed amendment would require Energy
Northwest's compliance with the ``currently applicable'' biological
opinion, if NMFS were to issue a new biological opinion in the future,
the proposed amendment would require Energy Northwest to adhere to the
specific requirements in the ITS of that
[[Page 32918]]
new biological opinion, and Energy Northwest would no longer be
required to adhere to the March 10, 2017, biological opinion upon
issuance of a new biological opinion.
Need for the Proposed Action
The proposed action is needed to reflect the biological opinion
issued by NMFS on March 10, 2017, and to require Energy Northwest's
compliance with the ITS and related RPMs and T&Cs contained therein.
The proposed action is administrative in nature.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action
The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed action and
concludes that the proposed changes are administrative in nature, would
have no direct effects on plant equipment or plant operation, and would
not involve any changes to the design bases for Columbia.
With regard to potential radiological impacts, the proposed action
would not increase the probability or consequences of accidents, would
not change the types or increase the amount of effluent that may be
released offsite, and would result in no increase in occupational or
public radiation exposure. Therefore, there are no significant
radiological environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.
With regard to potential non-radiological impacts, because the
proposed action is administrative in nature, it would not have any
direct impacts on land, air, or water resources, including impacts to
terrestrial biota. In addition, the NRC staff identified no
socioeconomic or environmental justice impacts associated with the
proposed action. Therefore, there are no significant non-radiological
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.
An indirect effect of the proposed action is that Energy
Northwest's impingement and entrainment studies (RPM 1 and 2) would
likely require in-water work and the collection of larvae and eggs. In-
water work could cause minor disturbances to nearby biota. However, the
activity would be temporary and fish could swim away to avoid the area
and return once the temporary work is completed. Removal of larvae and
eggs of resident fish species could occur during collection periods for
the entrainment study. However, the amount of individuals that would be
collected for the study would be negliable when compared to the size of
local resident fish populations. In addition, RPM 3 requires Energy
Northwest to modify some of its collection practices while conducting
biological monitoring studies. In general, these practices will result
in beneficial effects to ESA-listed species because the purpose of the
modifications are to minimize impacts. For example, during
electrofishing, where fish are temporarily stunned for biologists to
collect and measure them, RPM 3 requires Energy Northwest to handle
ESA-listed fish with extreme care and keep them in cold water to the
maximum extent possible during sampling and processing procedures. The
NRC staff concludes that the indirect effects from the impingement and
entrainment studies as well as the modified collection practices will
not result in significant environmental impacts to the radiological or
non-radiological environment.
Based on the foregoing analysis, the NRC concludes that there are
no significant environmental impacts associated with the proposed
action.
Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action
As an alternative to the proposed action, the NRC staff considered
denial of the proposed license amendment (i.e., the ``no-action''
alternative). Denial of the application would result in no change in
current environmental conditions or impacts. Accordingly, the
environmental impacts of the proposed action and the no-action
alternative are similar.
Alternative Use of Resources
The proposed action does not involve the use of any different
resources than those previously considered in NUREG-1437, Supplement
47, prepared for the license renewal of Columbia.
Agencies and Persons Consulted
The NRC did not enter into consultation with any other Federal
Agency or with the State of Washington regarding the environmental
impact of the proposed action. However, on June 6, 2018, the NRC
notified the Washington State official, Mr. Richard Cowley, Washington
State Department of Health, Office of Radiation Protection of the
proposed amendment. The State official had no comments.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact
The NRC is considering issuance of an amendment to Renewed Facility
Operating License No. NPF-21, issued to Energy Northwest for operation
of Columbia. The proposed amendment would revise the Columbia EPP to
require Energy Northwest to adhere to the specific requirements within
the ITS in the currently applicable biological opinion. On the basis of
the EA included in Section II of this document and incorporated by
reference into this finding, the NRC concludes that the proposed action
would not have significant effects on the quality of the human
environment. The NRC's evaluation considered information provided in
the licensee's application as well as the NRC's independent review of
other relevant environmental documents. Based on its findings, the NRC
has determined not to prepare an environmental impact statement for the
proposed action.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 11th day of July 2018.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
L. John Klos,
Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch IV-1, Division of Operating
Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2018-15091 Filed 7-13-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P